Character Interview with Elizabeth and Drake from Heartbeats

Recently I had the chance to interview Elizabeth and Drake from heartbeats for the Musa Publishing Blog. I donned my BahBahwahwah hat and this is what happened. Lot’s of tension between these two, to be sure! Enjoy!

Interview with Elizabeth Iverson and Drake McGuire from heartbeats, by Susan Rae

Elizabeth and Drake, thank you for coming to chat with us today. We don’t often get both the hero and heroine together for these chats. This should be fun. Can either one of you tell me why you think Susan Rae chose the two of you to represent her today?

Elizabeth: I think she just felt that since it’s our story, we would be the best ones to present it. She chose both of us, I’m sure, because we come at it from different angles. You see, when the novel begins, it’s been six years since we have seen each other. We met once in college, and then briefly a few years later, but since then, we have both gone our separate ways.

Drake: Briefly, Elizabeth? That’s how you’re describing it now?

Elizabeth: Well…

Do I detect some sarcasm there, Drake?

Drake: Let’s just get on with it.

Okay. Elizabeth, can you tell us a little about yourself? You’re a doctor, right?

Elizabeth: Yes, I am.

Did you always want to be a doctor?

Elizabeth: Honestly? As long as I can remember. You see, I grew up on a farm about forty-five miles from here, in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. Thinking back, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t dream about becoming a doctor. When I was little, my Barbie dolls didn’t wear clothes; they wore bandages and tourniquets. I was always pretending to try out the latest medical procedure on some poor, unsuspecting farm animal—with some very interesting results, as you can imagine. My parents didn’t have a lot of money, but I made it to the university on a scholarship. When my dad died of a heart attack while I was in med school, I decided to specialize in cardiology. That’s my passion, cardiology—both intervention and prevention. That, and of course, my daughter, Allison—the light of my life.

I understand you’re a single mother.

Elizabeth: Yes…well… Allison’s father didn’t really want anything to do with her.

I see. Drake, can you tell us something about yourself?

Drake: I can tell you that I know a little about what it’s like to grow up without a father; although my uncle, I call him Papa DeLuca, took me in when I was seven—after my parents died in a car crash on the Outer Drive. Elizabeth and I are alike in one sense, I always knew I wanted to be a cop, especially after my parents’ crash. I wanted to catch the slime who provide drugs to spaced-out kids like the ones who killed my parents.

What do you wish people would know about you? Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: Not much to know, really. I live a pretty modest life. I work long hours, don’t get up to see my mother nearly as much as I should—she still lives on the farm. Probably don’t take my daughter to the zoo as much as I should. I live in a modest three-flat in Wrigleyville and I thank heaven every day that it came with a great landlady who doesn’t mind watching Allison after school, or when I get a call in the middle of the night. The life of a cardiologist is not glamorous.

Drake?

Less to tell here. I’m a special agent, FBI, and I’m known for getting my man. Occasionally my boss might not exactly agree with my tactics, but I’m damn good at what I do. There’s not much that gets by me.

So I’m guessing your favorite music is rock? Hard and tough, like yourself?

Elizabeth: The louder the better. Trust me, I know. I had to endure it when we drove up to the farm.

Drake: Not all the time. I think Elizabeth is conveniently forgetting the ride back.

Elizabeth: Yes, you’re right, I’m sorry. There was the classical music on the way back, Chopin I believe it was.

Sounds like there’s more to you than meets the eye, Mr. McGuire..

Drake: I don’t always reveal all my secrets, kind of like Elizabeth here, right dear?

Uh, I’m sensing a little tension between you two. I see that you’re sitting together on the couch, but you’re not touching.

Drake: Let’s just say there’s a couple of things we need to work out.

Does that mean we’re not going to get our happy ending at the end of Heartbeats.

Thank you. Then can you at least tell me what has brought you two together at this time?

Drake: Let’s just say, curiosity for now. I had some time off. Remember that boss? He decided I needed a break after my last assignment. I received an alumni brochure that mentioned Elizabeth was going to be the keynote speaker at a benefit at the Palmer House Hilton. I figured, what the hell, I hadn’t seen my cousins in a while so I figured a trip north wouldn’t hurt. I currently work out of the field office in New Orleans. Anyway, I got in my car and drove up. You see, our brief encounter, as she likes to call it, broke off rather abruptly.

Elizabeth: Drake, you were nearly killed!

Drake: And you lit out as fast as you could. You couldn’t take a little heat.

Elizabeth: A little heat? You were in intensive care.

Drake: And you’d think a med student could handle that.

Why don’t we get back to the present. What happened at the alumni benefit. I take it you two didn’t exactly fall into each others arms?

Drake: Not exactly.

Elizabeth: No, but now he’s insisting on sticking around.

Drake: There is that little matter of your roommate being murdered in your apartment. Elizabeth doesn’t want to believe it, but she’s in a hell of a lot more danger than she realizes.

It sounds intriguing.Tell me Drake, if you help figure this out, do you plan on sticking around these parts long? Will we be seeing more of you or are you stepping out of the lime light?

Drake: If? Were you listening before? I said I’m damn good at my job. And as for the future, I don’t think Susan Rae is done with me yet. As a matter of fact, she’s cast me in her next novel, Freefall. Seems she needs my help to solve the mystery in that one, too. From what I understand, one of my friend’s buddies, a hero from the War in Afghanistan who lives up in Wisconsin, gets in this plane crash. Nobody knows if it’s an accident or sabotage.

Does he survive?

Drake: I guess you’ll just have to read that one, too, to find out. It’s due out in June. I just happen to have the Musa link for that one, also. freefall : Musa Publishing . I believe they are accepting preorders there. It will be up on amazon June 22.

All right, how about if we lighten it up a bit. Elizabeth, can you tell me what your perfect evening would be.

Drake: I’ll take that one for her. A boat, out on the lake, or the river as it was in Atlanta, in the moonlight. Soft music, wine, the lapping of the waves against the side of the boat. Is that about right, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: I’d prefer not to answer that right now.

And yours, Drake?

Drake: The same.

Then I guess I don’t need to ask what you do to relax.

Elizabeth: Let’s move on, shall we?

Is there anything you wish Susan Rae had kept her mouth shut about?

Drake: Why don’t you take this one, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: Perhaps…but in hindsight, I think it’s just as well it did come out. I think in the end, it is all for the best.

Do you feel you were portrayed fairly, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: I think she might have been a little hard on me, after all she is a mother herself. She should understand.

What really pushes your buttons?

Drake: Elizabeth.

What’s your biggest turn on?

Drake: Elizabeth.

What’s your biggest turn off? Elizabeth.

Wow, it seems you two do have a lot to work out. What’s your favorite Ice cream flavor, Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?

Elizabeth: Strawberry.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Elizabeth: I believe in signs, that those that have passed leave signs that show they are there, supporting us, after they have gone. We just have to be open to them.

Have you experienced any of these signs?

Elizabeth: After my father passed, I remember I was sitting out in the field one day, and a giant blue heron came by and landed on the post next to the water trough for the cows. Herons normally don’t land there, they are usually found around ponds or lakes, looking for fish. But I took it as a sign. My father used to take me to the nearby state park when I was a little girl and we’d look for the herons there. It was his favorite bird.

Have you received any signs, yet, from your friend, your roommate was it? who was murdered?

Elizabeth: If I were to be completely honest, I’d have to say that Drake’s coming here is her sign.

And what’s your biggest fear.

Elizabeth: The same as all mothers—that something terrible might happen to my daughter, Allison.

Drake: Another reason I’ll be sticking around.

Why should the readers be interested in your story?

Elizabeth: Because I think it speaks to all of us. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to control our lives and protect ourselves and our children from danger, danger still finds us. The evil person is often the seemingly innocent neighbor next door. It is through perseverance and learning to trust the right people to help us that we overcome the evil.

Thanks for stopping by, you two. And I look forward to reading your story!